The Americans can’t leave Iraq. But at the same time they can’t stay. To leave is to admit defeat. To stay is to be defeated.
Iraq is a boiling cauldron of ancient tribal and religious hatreds seething to an inextricable conclusion which will end in absolute misery. And when this pressure cooker explodes, as it will, the Americans would do well to be as far away from it as possible.
I believe that there are societies which are so lost, that nothing could save them but their own destruction and resurrection. Iraq and all the other Arab countries are such societies.
I often hear Arab apologists criticising those who suggest that the Palestinians can not really be held accountable for their actions, simply because they don’t know better, or are incapable of civilized behaviour, at least by our Western standards.
To suggest such a thing to the apologists is demeaning to the Palestinians (Arabs).
So I won’t suggest it. I will state it as fact until proven otherwise.
Every Middle Eastern Arab country is held together by the fear of the state-led strongman. There is no democracy, even though some countries like Egypt pretend there is. There are no civil rights and liberties, even though the Islamists would have us believe that the Koran provides for all the civil rights and liberties necessary. And there is no infrastructure truly independent from the government.
In all reality; one can construct a democracy simply by using any Arab country as a reverse model.
There is enormous wealth under the Arab sands. More money than can be imagined, yet the entire region is steeped in near abject poverty. Even in oil rich Saudi Arabia.
It’s easy to say that the Middle East is a developing region. But that would be a lie. Other than assuming some of the sophisticated material trappings of the West, including North American and/or European educations for the children of the elites, the Arab countries absolutely shun the democratic values that would set their people free.
Two tremendous events which support this concept occurred during the past 4 years.
The first was Ehud Barak’s (past Israeli Prime Minister) offer at Camp David in 2000, to give the Palestinians literally everything they wanted in exchange for peace, with the exception of their Right of Return to Israel proper.
Instead of grabbing this offer, or negotiating it somewhat; and giving the Palestinian people a recognised home, nation and stability, Arafat decided to begin murdering Jews.
From 1967’s Six Day War, which captured the West Bank from the Jordanians and Gaza from the Egyptians, Israel built (from scratch) a tremendous infrastructure for the Palestinians. Israel constructed schools, universities, hospitals, roads, electricity, running water, sewage and more.
But since the beginning of the Oslo Accord in 1993, and the hand-over of these territories back to the Palestinians, much of what the Israelis built has collapsed under the unfathomable weight of Palestinian corruption, violence and incompetence.
Overwhelming visible evidence proves that they would rather live under the thumb of thugs and hatred, than in a civilized society where there is room for everyone.
The other earth-shaking event was America and Britain’s war on Saddam and his supporters. At a huge financial and political cost, not to mention the loss of coalition lives, Saddam was removed.
Finally! Peace, stability and democracy can come to this very troubled country. The Americans shouted from the White House and the Capital Building how the Iraqis would celebrate their “liberation” and greet the liberators as heros.
It never happened.
Instead of seizing a golden opportunity to democratize and use their enormous oil wealth to build a model Arab country, the Iraqis prefer to live the way they did before.
They want the Americans gone. The Iraqis want to be governed by their tribal and religious leaders in a fashion where each group gets more than the other.
Other than removing Saddam Hussein, America’s sacrifice in Iraq has delivered nothing but agony for America.
There is no gratitude from the Arabs.
Some things are what they are. You can capture a wild animal, tame it to the point where it is approachable, and even exchange with it some emotional connection. But like it or not, it will always be a wild animal.
The Arab world is no different. No matter what we want to believe, or how much we are prepared to sacrifice to bring the Arab world into the 21st century as working democracies, it will never happen. This is not the world the Arabs long for.
Even the dressed up Arabs, like the Western educated spokesmen for the Saudi Royal family who speak English with a British accent are no better. Once you take off the hand painted tie, starched shirt and tailored jacket, there is a despot just below the surface, who treats women like property, and has disdain for the democractic rights of others.
Other examples include the likes of Palestinian mouthpieces; Saeb Erekat and Hannan Ashwari, both with their titles Doctor. Both having been educated by Western standards in Western societies.
Ashrwai and Erekat, both live the life of luxury as members of Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, while the Palestinian people they pretend to represent have nothing. Yet both support Arafat; a thug, TERRORIST, thief and murderer.
The Americans would do very well in taking a page out of the Israeli play book. Make certain the Arabs can’t hurt you at home or abroad. Build a wall between them and yourself. And then disengage.
The Arab world isn’t My Fair Lady where you can change a street-wench into a princess. No matter how hard you try. It is what it is.
But I guess there are always exceptions.
Lebanon (at least in Beirut) is a vibrant country where the Lebanese Christians hang on to their Western values by a thread; always looking over their shoulders at the Syrians and Lebanese Moslems who took it all away from them once before.
As long as the Lebanese Christians produce wealth for Islamic Lebanon, keep an open link to the West, and don’t try to assume visible power, they will be tolerated. But let the Lebanese Christians try to reach beyond their grasp, and once again they will feel the wrath of what it means to be an Arab democrat in the Middle East.
Most of my many Christian Lebanese friends keep reminding me. We might come from the Middle East and an Arab country. But we’re not Arabs. At least not in the sense of the Arab mind-set that seems peculiar to the Moslems.
And then there are the 1.2 million Israeli Arabs who want a Palestinian State, just as long as they don’t have to give up their Israeli citizenship to be a part of it.
As I’ve said from Day 1. America did what it had to do in removing Saddam. Now it’s time to declare victory, and get the hell out. There’s nothing for them to save.
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One Comment
I disagree-
Moving manufacturing because of regulations. what kind of employment is it that makes sleep by the factory- wake you up in the middle of the night- give you a muffin and sends you to work, for mere pennies. (The answer -Apple Computers). It seems to me that the real something for nothing are the investors.
On regulations: I suppose worker safety, or excessive environmental pollution, 16 hour work days should be the choice of the employer, not society.
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